Domaine Gramiller, Rasteau Vaucluse 2022 Rhone Valley France

Frédéric Julien used to be Vice-President of the Cooperative Cellar of Rasteau and started his own domaine in 2017 in the village of Vaucluse. Self-taught, with the help of friends and neighours Jerome Bressy, Gourt de Martens and Helen Durand, Ogier and others, Frederic is a perfectionist. He's thrown away many a barrel and vintage before getting to where he is now, and utterly nailing the no added SO2 cuvees.

 The estate takes its name from a part of Rasteau called Gramiller – a terroir of many soils where they have 2.5 ha of vines. Since his beginnings in vine growing some twenty years ago, Frédéric Julien has always been a big supporter of organic farming and a strong believer in the importance of  farming with nature, rather than against it. It's no surprise that they chose a small gecko, or tarente as the emblem of the estate which you can spot on their labels and corks. As Frederic comments; "it is a creature that is constantly present around the Mediterranean, and it is very useful in the natural balance because it eats flies and mosquitoes”.